Lecture: Wiglette by Ellen Gallaghar

In todays lecture with we learned about Ellen Gallagher who is an American artist that has done numerous work that were targeted at African Americans about the black minstrels, science fiction and advertisements. She has Irish and African American Origins which was what shaped her subject matter of her work. Her work has a lot of repetition and revision of minimalist geometry shapes structures in her work. 

Wiglette from DeLuxe,2004 Photogravure, and plasticine

One of her most famous work is called Wiglette from Deluxe created in 2004. She collected images from old magazines that were aiming at African American women hair styles. Many people suggested that these hairstyles were the use of prosthetic enhancements to diminish blackness. In other words it was to influence black women to have more of European American hairstyles rather than then their own which was tight curly texture hair. So Gallagher appropriated images from the magazines with a range of materials such as plasticine, rubber, and coconut oil. 

I researched Ellen Gallaghar's work because her practice is concerned with a desire to recliam, renew and reimage black histories in the African diaspora. The whole subject matter is something that I can relate to and many African American who are concerned with their features and history. Her work is very inspiration and makes me want to approach this subject matter but in a way to heal us.